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Tuntland's Final Argument

November 17, 2010

Tuntland
said the jury had been hearing Bakke talk about a whistleblower complaint and
that there is no such thing as a whistleblower complaint. He said there is activity you can engage in
for which you cannot be punished, that's whistleblower activity. He said in North Dakota an employee cannot be penalized
for reporting a violation or a suspected violation of law. He said Long reported Armstrong's journal to
law enforcement, that was clearly a suspected violation of law. He said Long also refused to participate in
actions he believed to be in violation of state or federal law. This was in regards to the Hatch Act and the
alleged Chamber of Commerce letter writing campaign. He said that the jury had been hearing that
Bjornson said there was no violation, but that is not what Bjornson said at the
time.

Tuntland
said Bakke had said the culture at WSI didn't mean anything, but Tuntland said
that if there was a history of retaliation at WSI it is more likely there would
be continued retaliation at WSI. He said
we have an employee with an impeccable employee record who engaged in protected
whistleblower activity and is retaliated against within one month.

He said
Bakke continues to say there is not a single document that said they were
retaliating. He asked the jury if they
expected WSI to write down, yes, we do intend to retalitate against you.

He said
we're told that Halvorson suspended Long, but in point of fact his dismissal
was signed by Sandy Blunt. The same
Blunt who returned under a cloud at WSI and recreated a handwritten memo to get
rid of Long.

Tuntland
brought up the issue of the accused in the case being the arbiter. Tuntland said "how many criminal
suspects can tell witnesses against them, say my lawyer will listen to what you
tell the cops, I can fire you, but you have the right to remain
silent?"

Regarding
that handwritten side file that Bakke said was conveniently missing, Tuntland
said that implied Jim stole it, but if there ever had been a side file it was
placed in a candy drawer accessible to all employees.

Tuntland
challenged Halvorson had not had enough time to supervise Jim to properly
evaluate him.

Tuntland
noted that in Long's request to the AG for whistleblower protection, he wrote
down the immediate items that came to his mind and said he would put together a
more complete list, which he did submit to the States Attorney. He told WSI to get those complaints from the
States Attorney. WSI did not. Tuntland said we are asked to believe Long
somehow did something wrong, but it was important to remember that Long's
allegations were never investigated.
Never.

Regarding
Justin Data's email, Tuntland said it said that things were going along fine
with the ITTP project until Sandy Blunt left and now he understood that Long
had problems with his superior. Long had
only one superior at that time, John Halvorson.

Bakke
told the jury that Jim had given a statement to Rob Forward that he wasn't in
Armstrong's office. Tuntland asked the
jury to read that statement and then read independent reports, that WSI
misstated things. Tuntland said that's
not what the Forward report stated.

As to the
two different reports Long gave about getting this journal, Tuntland said at
his first meeting with Mike Quinn at BCI, Long decided to take the heat. But when he was questioned under oath, he
told the truth that Grinsteinner had taken the journal. He noted that Grinsteinner also, under oath,
stated that she had taken the journal and that Grinsteinner's testimony was not
impeached.

Tuntland
said there had been alot of allegations that Long was insubordinate. He said that when he was in the marines,
telling a superior officer to their face that they're an idiot was
insubordination, but sitting around the barracks and telling fellow marines
that a superior officer was an idiot was just talk.

Tuntland
said we have a whistleblower here. The
guy he blew the whistle on started retaliating against him the day he got back
to WSI. This was a signal not just for
Long, but for all WSI employees.

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About Me

Sue Wilson tells important stories which move politicians to act. She is the Emmy winning director of the media reform documentary "Broadcast Blues" and editor of SueWilsonReports.com.
Broadcast Blues sets its sights on media policy, and www.SueWilsonReports.com turns a critical eye on the media itself.
She recently formed an activist site, http://www.MediaActionCenter.net